Thursday, June 23, 2011

Fitzgerald’s East Egg, aka: Sands Point appears to be a hot spot for historic homes changing hands lately, from the fabulous Rumsey house, to the William Guggenheim estate, to the lesser known Boulder Beach constructed in 1929.Sands Point popular in early 1900’s was the home to many of Long Island’s great house building families, everyone from the Vanderbilts,Goulds, Guggenheims, and Astors flocked to the small peninsula .Over the next few days I will be posting some original images of the great Sands Point houses.

The next post will give you a glimpse at The Chimneys playhouse, which had some of the finest Art Deco architecture on Long Island in the basement.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Today, I visited an amazing McKim, Mead & White estate in Sands Point.It was a special treat!!! The home Mr. & Mrs. Charles Cary Rumsey, it has never changed hands and is still owned by the family.Built in the 1920s, it was a great surprise to see it is still in pristine condition.Like a time capsule, it sits amidst gardens and a sweeping lawn overlooking Long Island Sound. Constructed of limestone in the French Norman style with a steeply pitched slate roof and great wrought iron detail. The carriage house and beach house are in the Tudor style and also quite nice.The beach house looks like something out of the movie Rebecca. I got a sneak peak today because it will be coming on the market with my office, listed through Aleta Heisig and Chad Brisbane.I took some pictures for the blog and hope to bring you some images of never before seen houses on a regular basis, so I hope you all will keep checking in, so I can share these great historic homes with you. I will post interiors of the Rumsey house on Friday

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Razed after WWII, Beacon Towers, the home of ten year widow Alva Vanderbilt Belmont was another inspiration for Fitzgerald. Also in Sands Point (aka: East Egg) both homes will have to survive in the memory of Gatsby readers. Of the 1,200 grand estates that once lined the North Shore of Long Island and the approximately 400 that survive today, this blog will try to keep the history of our unique island alive and help spread awareness of the past, present, and future of these wonderful homes.

As many of you know one of the great Long Island homes said to be Daisy's house in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was razed recently.Marking the entrance to Hempstead Harbor for nearly a century, Kidd's Rock (Land's End) was one of the last reminders of this great American novel.Over the next few days I will be posting images of the house taken before during and after the demolition.

Below photos of Kidd’s Rock (Lands End) on the last day before it was completely erased: